Chapter 4

When Shirley got to Spain, she saw a crowd of people. Shirley slipped by them and saw they were preparing to witness The Running of The Bulls. Two people got into the track with the bulls, and another person let loose the bulls. When the doors opened, the bulls walked out and fell asleep on their paws like bears. While the crowd was distracted by the sleeping bulls, Shirley snuck into the bulls' pen and looked around. Shirley saw it was pitch black, so she turned on her flashlight to see where she was walking. Shirley was walking around the bull's pen when she heard a noise from the floor.

Shirley stomped her foot on the floor and heard metal. Shirley said, "That's weird; the floor sounds different here." Shirley jumped in the air, and when she hit the floor, it cracked, and she fell through the bottom of the pen. Shirley said while she dropped, "And it just got even weirder, AH!" When Shirley hit the bottom, she got up and rubbed her head. Shirley said, "Great, in addition to having weird animals, this world also has weird animal pens." Shirley turned on her flashlight and saw she was in a secret passage. Shirley followed the tunnel to a dead end. Shirley said, "Hmmm. I wonder." Shirley knocked on the walls until she hit a loose stone that opened the wall.

Shirley walked in the wall, tripped, and slid down a slide. When she hit the bottom, she tried to get up, but she laid down and got knocked out. At the same time, a snake slithered by her. The snake looked at her and looked around to see if anyone else was around. Then the snake grabbed Shirley's coat, pulled her out of the cave like a firedog, and set her outside. Shirley just barely opened her eyes and saw the snake that saved her. Then she shut her eyes again and laid down. The snake assumed Shirley would be fine, but he stayed with her just in case. Shirley was out for twelve hours, but when she woke, she saw a snake by her. Shirley jumped up, and the snake left without biting her.

Shirley followed the snake back into the caves, where it was pitch black. Shirley took her flashlight from her backpack, turned it on, and used it to look around the cave. When Shirley turned her flashlight on, she lost the snake's trail. Shirley said, "Where did he go?" Shirley walked to the end of the tunnel and found a bunch of boxes. Shirley saw that each box had bold words on them. Then Shirley read what each box was labeled. Shirley said, "Gold Pocket Watches, Diamond Necklaces, Valuable Art, Smart Phones, and Money." Shirley wrote everything in the boxes on her notepad and took a picture of the boxes with her camera. Shirley said, "I bet all this stuff is worth a fortune." Shirley heard somebody coming her way, so she looked up, saw a hatch, opened it, and got out. Then Shirley went to a diner to think the case through. While she was eating, she looked at the town's newspaper. Shirley said, "Fortune Robberies Committed Around The World. Guard Dogs swear they've seen nothing, and all robberies were done as if the thief walked in and out of the buildings without setting off alarms."

Shirley looked at the last place on the list of places that were robbed and read it. Shirley said, "Blinder's Jewels, New York City." Shirley went to New York City and the Blinding Jewels Factory." Shirley grabbed the fence and got electrocuted. Then Shirley held a small stick up to the wall, and it got fried to a crisp. Shirley said, "Well, the security system is still up. But if it is, how did anybody get in?" Shirley looked to her right and saw an opening in the fence. Shirley walked through the wall and saw footprints going into the factory. Shirley grabbed the doorknob, looked to her left, and saw the guard dogs running around like llamas. Then Shirley looked to her right and saw another set of guard dogs drinking endless gallons of water like camels.

Shirley quietly walked into the factory and quietly walked around. Shirley saw that it was dark and quiet while she was sneaking around. Shirley said, "Very dark and quiet here; the machines aren't even running." Shirley looked at one of the machines and saw a symbol on it. Shirley said, "Wait a minute." Shirley took the torn paper she found with the symbol from her pocket and held it up to the symbol on the machine. Shirley said, "Perfect match. So this symbol is a torn diamond, which is the symbol for Blinder's Jewels. I knew I'd seen it somewhere."

Shirley went to the second floor to look for clues and saw a hallway of doors. Shirley opened one of the doors and saw storage inside. Shirley shut that door and moved to the next one. Shirley opened the next door and saw boxes full of necklaces. Shirley shut that door and moved to the next one. Shirley opened the next door, and a bunch of diamonds fell out. Shirley pushed all the diamonds back in, slammed the door shut, and moved to the next one. Shirley opened the next door and saw the janitor's closet. Then Shirley shut the door and moved to the next one. Shirley opened the next door and saw the owner's office. Shirley walked into the office and started to look for clues. Shirley opened the desk drawers, but they were all empty. Then she looked through the papers on the desk, but nothing helped. Shirley said, "Not one piece of evidence." Shirley looked at the calendar on the wall and saw October 31st circled. Shirley said, "Or is there?" Shirley looked at the calendar and saw that today was the 24th and Halloween was the 31st. Shirley said, "But what does Halloween have to do with this?" Shirley wrote down what she knew on her notepad and left the jewelry factory. After Shirley left, she saw people putting up Halloween decorations. Shirley said, "If the cats and bats don't act like themselves, Halloween will be ruined for everybody."

Shirley took a stroll through the woods and thought the case through. Shirley said, "OK, so animals don't act like themselves; a microchip can mix animal DNA. Jasmine's father is a computer genius, and Halloween is in a week. What am I missing?" The mysterious figure snuck up from behind Shirley. The hooded figure said, "How about this?" Shirley turned around and saw the hooded figure with a ninja sword. Shirley hit the deck, and the mysterious figure sliced the bench she was sitting on in half. The hooded figure said, "You'll never live to see tomorrow again." Shirley took her knife from her backpack and looked at the mysterious figure. Shirley said, "We'll see about that." The hooded figure swung his sword at Shirley, but Shirley hit it away with her knife. Then Shirley did the splits, looked up at the mysterious figure, and saw that he was just about to kill her. Shirley jumped and got back on her feet. The hooded figure said, "Looks like you're out of options." Shirley slid on the ground, kicked the mysterious figure's sword in the air, caught it, and held it above her head. Shirley said, "Not quite." The hooded figure took out his guns and broke half the sword off. Shirley looked at the mysterious figure and saw him spin his weapons and put them back in his belt pockets. Shirley only had half a sword, but she still fought with it. Then, the mysterious figure waved at Shirley, and a bunch of squirrels surrounded her. Shirley said, "You think I'm scared of squirrels." The hooded figure said, "No, but what about wolves?"

One squirrel jumped like a wolf at Shirley, but she got out of the way. Shirley kept dodging all the attacks the squirrels threw at her until she got down on her knees. Shirley said, "I can't keep this up much longer." Shirley threw her sword at the squirrels. They all ran off, and so did she when she saw a clearing. When Shirley exited the woods, she saw her car, got in it, and drove off.